VEPP-2000 project: Collider,detectors, and physics program

The new VEPP-2000 e⁺e^? collider of maximum energy 2000 MeV, which is under construction at the Budker Institute of Nuclear Physics (Siberian Division, Russian Academy of Sciences, Novosibirsk), is briefly described. Experiments at VEPP-2000 will be performed with two upgraded detectors, CMD-2M and SND. A precise measurement of the total cross section for the process e⁺e^? → hadrons and of the partial cross sections for its exclusive hadronic channels is the main point of the physics program for this machine. These measurements will be aimed at testing QCD and the VMD and CVC models, as well as at refining the hadron contribution to fundamental constants such as the muon anomalous magnetic moment \(a_\mu = \frac{{g - 2}}{2}\) and the fine-structure constant α_em(M _Z ² ). Measurements of the nucleon form factors in the reactions e⁺e^? → p\(\bar p\), n\(\bar n\) at their threshold will also be of great importance.